Tom Owen is vice president of PGAV, a global leader in the planning and design of unique destinations. For more than 30 years, he has been “helping write the next chapter in the story of museums, blending strategic vision with physical planning to ensure cultural institutions thrive and captivate audiences”, said one nominator.
Owen is an expert in master planning, able to envision the roadmaps that align a museum’s mission with its physical space and future goals. He works with many institutions, helping them to achieve economic success while remaining deeply engaging and relevant. His innovative ideas are driven by a desire to understand and influence guest attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. “He strives to make each encounter educational and unforgettable,” they added.
Owen has helped to educate and entertain thousands of visitors through projects at visitor attractions including the Georgia Aquarium, Indianapolis Zoo, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Additionally, he has taught museum studies at the University of Missouri—Saint Louis and served as a guest lecturer at NYU in the graduate program for tourism professionals. He has written and co-written numerous articles and reports, including Science Museum Futures for the Institute for Learning Innovation, and Emotions and Learning in Museums for the Network of European Museum Organisations. Owen has also been a museum advocate for Museum Advocacy Day and a keynote speaker at multiple conferences.
“I have the coolest job in the world. At least that’s what people say when I tell them I get to write stories of the future for museums. Because when we plan and design a new exhibit or entire museum, we make decisions today that affect how people will behave over the life of the exhibit,” Owen says.
“Future audiences will bring a different frame of reference than audiences of the past. We conduct research to understand those differences. And while we can’t predict the future, we can understand the trends most likely to shape it. ‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it,’ wrote Alan Kay. That’s just what we try to do with every project at a science museum, history museum, aquarium, zoo, or historic site.”